How much should MPs be paid?

MPs' pay is back on the agenda, with reports suggesting the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority may recommend £10,000 pay rise for MPs. What is a reasonable salary for a Member of Parliament?

David Cameron and Ed Miliband: divided over the issue of MPs' pay? Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

Is a £10,000 pay rise for MPs appropriate? That's the amount that the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority is expected to recommend. MPs' basic salary is currently £66,396 but as we've found, they're earning millions more from outside work.

The latest UK salary survey shows that medical practitioners and sales directors earn about the same as MPs, although wages are a lot higher in London where MPs spend around 150 days a year. At £31,000 a year, fire service officers and nurses earn less than half what MPs do, while chief executives get around £85,000.

The current minimum wage is £6.19 an hour, for those 21 and over.

How do MPs compare to their colleagues? Cabinet Ministers receive £134,565 per year for their services, the Speaker of the House £142,162 and the Prime Minister earns slightly more at £142,500. It wasn't always this way though; when a salary was first introduced for MPs in 1911, it was £400 a year and stayed the same until 1937. However, an economic crisis meant that salaries at the House of Commons took a temporary reduction between 1931 and 1935 - do you think the same needs to happen today?

Given that 1 in 4 MPs previously worked in business do they need to receive high wages to attract them to the world of politics? Share your views on what MPs should earn by voting in our poll and posting a comment below.